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0.1;PBRUSH. APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING Momsv 1Nv oAsTlNG. No. 293,711. Patent-ed'. Feb, `19V. 1884..

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i 0.-F.. BRUS-H. APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATINGl MOLDS IN CASTING. No. 293.711. f `Patented feb. 19, 1884-.

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To all whomV it may concern:

Nm3; STATES' Aralar trios..

vCHARLES F. BRUSH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

APPARATUS Foa MANIPULATING MoLns HN CASTING.

SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,711, dated February 19, 1884.

Application filed October 24, 1883. (No model.) i I Be it known that I, OHARLEs F. BRUSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, State of Ohio, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Manipulating Molds in Casting; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-like letters indicating like parts-- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my apparatus, showing its position in lifting the mold from ordepositing it on a mold-supporting table. Fig. 2, Sheet 2, is a side elevation of my apparatus having a mold attached thereto and suspended over a bath ofmolten metal. Fig. 3, Sheet 2is an enlarged view, showing the standard and its connections on which the operating-lever is mounted. Figs. 4, 5, and 6, Sheet 3, are enlarged detail views ofthe clutch mechanism used inlifting, opening, and

l closing the mold, and show said clutch in different operative positions. Fig. 7 is a detail view of onehalf of the clutch mechanism, the supporting-arm being shown in section.

My invention relates to an apparatus for effecting the various manipulations to which a mold is subj ectcd in carrying out the various steps of my improved process, which consists, in general terms, in immersing a hinged or jointed mold while tightly closed in a bath of molten metal, separating the parts ofthe mold, so as to admit the moltenmetal, closing the mold while submerged, and then withdrawing the mold, all as more fully set forth in another application. After the mold is withdrawn from the bath, it is deposited on a suitable table disengaged from the clutch mechanism, so that it can be opened and the casting withdrawn.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of devices or mechanism, all as more fully hereinafter described and claimed. Y

The lever A is pivotedv on a pin, a, mounted at its ends in the arms a of a swinging frame, A', the lever being held centrally within this frame by fianged collars a2, surrounding the pivot-pin a, and arranged on each side of the lever and between the arms a of the swinging frame. This frameA is pivoted at the end opposite the lever to the upper ends of the arms of the forked frame A2 by a rod, ai, and ,55'

this forked frame is vertically pivoted by its pin a* on the end of the standard A3, so 'as to rotate on said pivot. By this construction I am enabled not only to move the lever vertically up and down, but also to swing it back 6o and forth longitudinally of itself, and to turn it around longitudinally, the purposes of s'uch movements being hereinafter stated.

To the forward end, a5, of the lever A is a `tached a rod or bar, a, projecting upward and 6 5 the pivot of the lever, brace-rods a and aw are 7o secured to the lever A back of the pivot, and support the rod a at the middle and end thereof. The function of the Weight will be stated hereinafter.

To the lever A, on each side of its pivotal 75 point, are attached one or more stops, a, which, by abutting against the standard A3, prevent too great a vertical movement of the` lever. Y

On the under side of the lever, and forward 8o of its pivotal point, is attached a hook, a, and to this hook the weight au, which is provided at its top with a, swiveling stirrup, a, is to be attached at certain times during the maL nipulation of the lever, forau purpose to be hereinafter set forth. Y

' Near the forward end of the lev er, and on one side thereof, is attached a friction-roller, a, which runs in a slotted standard, c, secured to the top of the furnace O, containing the bath 9o of molten metal.

To the extreme forward end of the lever A is pivoted, by a pin, a, the supporting-arm b, which is provided with ears, b', extending up ward on each side of the end of the lever, and 9 5 lower endV this arm -b is provided with two Iool horizontal slots, b2, through which pass the pins b3which also pass through the lugs b4 of the cylindrical pieces of metal b5, and serve as pivots therefor. rIhe adjacent ends of these lugs are curved to form cam-surfaces, for a purpose hereinafter stated. The curvature of these cam-surfaces is determined by the are of a circle whose center is located at the center of a knob or projection, b1?, on the periphery of the block b5.

In the cylindrical blocks b5 are formed V- shaped radial slots b, into which pass the handles If of the two parts E of aflask, E, and these handles are locked and held within these radial slots by bell-crank levers 1;, 011e on each end of the blocks Z, which are provided with hooks at one end to catch under the handles' bT when they enter the slots bf. The outer ends of each pair of levers b* are-united together by a bar, b, thereby insuring a simultaneous movement of the hooks at each end of the blocks.

To the arm b, above the slots b?, are pivoted the dogs blo, which are provided with hooks b at the inner side of their outer ends. These hooks b, at a cert-ain pointinl the operation of this device, catch intogrooves e, which may be formed in the outside walls of the mold, or in a plate secured on the outer -sides of the mold, and at the top thereof, and'thereby hold the parts of the mold together 'and furnish .a means for lifting the `mold from the bath. These dogs b are held in operative positions, and are operated by a spring, s.

The operation of my device is as follows, and in this description I will starttwith the mold in a closed condition and resting 011 the stand D, Fig. l, located in convenient proximity to the furnace C, and withinl the sweep of the forward end of lever A: The mold being closed and in an upright position, a workman raises the handle end h of the lever A, thereby lowering the end a5 ofthe lever, and

'with it the blocks b, into theslots bG of which pass the handles Z)T of the mold. In entering these slots the handles bistrike andpush aside the hooked ends of the bell-crank levers 68, and

4when the handles Z17 have reached the bottom of the radial slots bthe hooked ends ofthe levers bE will drop back into place .under the handles bT and nsecurelyloek them in theslots, as shown in Fig. 4. After the mold has been securely caught in the blocks b5, the-swivelstirrup a of the previously-attached weight am is turned to disengage it from the hook a on the lever A, the sole functionlof this weight a being to counterbalance the weight al when the mold is not attached to the lever, and for this purpose it is to beV hooked onto the lever when the mold is disengaged from thelevcr and is to be unhooked, as just stated, when the lever and mold are again connected. `Vhen the handle end h of the lever A is nearor below a horizontal plane passing through the pivot a., the weight al acts on the handle side ofthepivot. The mold having been secured in the blocks b, and the weight al having been disengaged from the lever A, the workman depresses the end h of the lever A, thereby lifting the mold from the stand D, and swings the m old around, by turning the lever A on its vertical pvot a" in the standard A, over the furnace C. During this movement the weight of the mold is counterbalanced wholly or in part by the weight a?, and the mold is held closed by its own weight, as the handles 127 of the mold are farther apart than the distance between the slots b in the blocks b5 when said blocks are hanging loose and disengaged from the handles of the mold B, for it will be observed that the blocks b5 have a limited range of downwardswinging motion on the pivot-pins b, so that the two parts of the mold will be closed to gether before the contiguous eccentric or cam faces of lugs b* come in contact; but it should also be added that when this clutch and lifting mechanism is disengaged from the mold, so that such eccentric faces may come in contact with each other, such contact will take place before the open ends of the slots b pass out of proper position to slip readily onto the handles Zi, as above described. rlhe feature last referred to, however, is not necessary, provided other means be employed, manual or otherwise, for guiding the slots b onto the handles If. The outer end, h, of the lever A is now raised, care being taken'to guide the friction-roller a15 into the slot in the standard c on the furnace, and as this friction-roller ai moves down the nearly vertical slot in e it causes the lever Ato swing backward slightly on thepivot a ofthe swin gin g frame A', and consequently the mold deseendsinto the bath ina practically straight line of motion. As the lever A approaches a horizontal position the weight ai acts more nearly in the vertical line of the pivot a, and when thisleverhas reached such a position that the bottom of the mold is about entering the metal in the bath the weight ai has ceased to act on the handle side of the pivot and commences to act on the other side thereof, thereby aiding the workmanto force the mold into the molten metal, this assistance being very useful, as the molten metal, by reason of its great specific gravity, will buoy up the mold with considerable force. The mold is thus pushed down by the movement of the lever until it reaches the bottom ofthe vessel containing the molten metal. During the above-described operation, while the mold is suspended in the blocks lf', the blocks are held so far apart by the handles of the mold that the pins b are in the outer end ofthe slots b, and the adjacent camsurfaccs 011 the lugs b* are not in contact, and the lugs b" incline upwardly from the horizontal plane passing through the center of the blocks Z1, all as shown in Fig. 4. The mold having reached the bottom of the vessel containing the molten metal, the downward movement of the end a of the lever is continued, forcing the lugs b* down toward and beneath a horizontal posi? tion, and tending thereby to force the blocks b5 apart; but this tendency is resisted by the IIO handles of the mold, which is heid together hy the pressure of the metal against .its sides. Consequently the adjacent surfaces of the lugs b4 come together at that .point of their surface nearest the centerof the blocks b5, the pins b3V sliding inward in the slots b2 of the piece or arm b. During a further downward movement of the arm b the cam-surfacesof the lugs b4 roll onor against leach other, and as the points of greatest eccentricity of the cam-surfaces approach each other, the blocks, and with them the handles ofthe mold, will be forced apart, thus opening thev mold, as shown in Fig. 5. The position of the parts when the mold isthus fully opened is clearly shown in Fig. 5, the mold beingv opened to its greatest extent when those parts ofthe adjacent camsurfaces on the lugs b4 which have the greatest eccentricity are in contact with each other, and are on or near the horizontal plane passing throughfthe centers of the blocks b5, as

shown. The ask now being opened and the metal having lled all its parts, itis now necessary that the mold should be closed while submerged in the molten metal. 'Ihis can be done in two ways: First, the workman can reverse the movement of the lever A-that is, pull down or depress the handle end h-thereby raising the forward end a5 and its attachments, and this upward movement of cwill reverse the. movements of the blocks bf, and will draw the parts of the mold together, and by continuing the lowering movement of the handle end h the mold will be drawn out of the molten metal, and can then be swung around onto the stand D.

'Ihe movements' of the parts thus far de` scribed are closely analogous to the ordinary.

toggle movement; but it is desirable in some eases that'the `closing of the mold should be effected as quickly as possible after it is opened, and that` it should be held more tightly closed than can be done by the blocks b5 alone.

Therefore, instead of reversing-z'. e. raisingthe forward end of the lever, which will require more time than the. mold should be allowed to remain open, I prefer to continue the downward movement ofthe forward endV ofthe lever c5 and its attachments after the mold' is fully opened and t-he parts are in the position shown in Fig. 5, and by this continued downward movement the lugs b1t will be depressed still farther from the approximately-horizontal position in which they were when in contact, and as they turn on the handles b7 as a pivot they will tend to separate; but this separation will be arrested by the pins b3 striking against the' outer ends -of the slots b2 in the arm b, and therefore a further downward movement will draw the lugs together, and consequently close the mold. It is 'apparent that if the handle end h were now depressed to raise the mold from the bath the mold would be again opened and the metal readmitted; but to prevent this reopening of the mold I employ the hookeddogs b1, hereinbefore mentioned. During the movements of the parts from the position shown in Figli tothat vshown in 5 the tension of the spring s has kept the free ends of these dogs in contact with the blocks b5, but at the point shown in Fig. 5 the spring has reached its normal position and will resist any further spreading of the dogs. During the movement of t-he end a5 of the lever and its connections 4from the position shown in Fig. 5 to that shown in Fig. 6 the rounded ends of the dogs bw strike on the top part of the mold, and, sliding outwardly thereon, are further spread apart against the tension of the spring s. Vhen the mold has been completely elosed bythe downward movement above described, by which the mold was closed, the dogs bw have been spread to such an extent that their hooks b can be forced by the spring s down over the edgeof the mold and into the groove e, rand the mold will be held tightly closed by said hooks. I prefer this downward movement for closing the mold, as 'it takes much less time than is required to close the mold by reversing the movements, as

above described,` and it is important to close vas though it was intermittent, or step by step;

but in actual Voperation this downward movement is continuous and rapid'from the time the mold is over the bath until it has been' submerged, opened and closed, the whole op eration usually occupying not more than a 'fractional part of -a second.- As soon as the Ico mold is closed and locked the handle end of the lever is pulled down, thus raising the mold from the bath, the mold being sustained and held' closed during this upward movement by the hooked dogs bw, and as soon as it has been f raised sufficiently to disengage the frictionroller af" from the slot in the standard c the lever is turned horizontally until the mold is over the stand D, on which it is deposited.

As soon as the mold rests upon its stand the end a5 of the lever is slightly depressed, so. that the hooked dogs can be disengaged from thegroove c,- Vthen the handles b9 of the belleranklevers4 -12B are raised, swinging the hooks at the other ends of said levers from under the handles of the mold, when the end a5 of `the lever and its attachments can be lifted away from .the molds; but before this is done the weight a13 should be again attached to the lever.

` I have found. in practice that the hooked dogs b1 are liable in some cases to allow the parts of the-mold to move slightly apart when the. mold is lifted, and that in consequence of such opening some of the metal in the mold escapes. To remedy this defect I use a locking-bar, D, (see Figs. 4, 5, and 6;) but as this locking-bar is included in the subject-mattei' of another. application, I have not described or claimed it herein, but refer for a full description thereof to such other application.

It is obvious that any suitable divided or IIO IZO

'A jointed mold havingisuitable handles may be I combination mechanism for taking hold ofthe Y opposite parts of said mold, mechanism for used with the above-described apparatus, and I do not thereforelimitmyself to any particular form of mold.

In so far as relates to a mechanism in which the mold shall be reclosed by a continuation of the movement which opened it, it will be observed that this result is produced by what may be termed a toggle-joint which passes the center-that is to say, one in which the outward or spreading movement of the togglearms (which`in this case are lettered 11") at iirst acts to push the twohalves or parts of the mold apart, and then, after the point of greatest distention is passed, or after their centers of motion pass below a line joining their pivotal points, (here lettered 127,) such toggle-arms act to draw the two halves or parts of the mold together; but, as regards this feature, I do not limit myself to any particular form or construction of toggle-arms or toggle-joint, and include herein the known substitutes and the mechanical equivalents thereof, such as are adapted by a continuous movement to give iirst a spreading and then a closing effect; and when this construction and operation are adopted the presence of the locking mechanism dcscribed, or a suitable substitute therefor-such aswill prevent thereopening of the mold as it is lifted from the bath-beeomesimportant. In other words, the lock should be such that the toggle-arms then cease to act as l a toggle and become simply a means of lifting, and to this end any suitable lock may be employed adapted to do the work specified in substantially the manner indicated.

I clailn herein as my inventionl. An apparatus for manipulating jointed or divided molds in casting metal, having in combination a mechanism for taking hold of the opposite parts of said mold, mechanism for lowering and raising the mold, and mechanism for opening and closing the mold, substantially as set forth.

2. An apparatus for manipulating jointed or divided molds in casting metal, having in combination a mechanism for taking hold of the opposite parts of said mold, mechanism for moving the mold vertically and horizontally, and mechanism for opening and closing the mold, substantially as set forth.

An apparatus for manipulating jointed or divided molds in casting metal, having in lowering and raising the mold, mechanism for opening and closing the mold, and mechanism for locking the mold when closed, substantially as set fort-h.

4. An apparatus for manipulating jointed or divided molds in casting metals, having in combination mechanism for taking hold of the opposite parts of the mold, mechanism for raising and lowering the mold, and'mechanism for. opening and closing themold, all constructed and arranged to be operated in lowering, opening, and closing the mold by a continuous movement in one direction, substantially as set forth.

5. An apparatus for manipulating jointed or divided molds in casting metal, having in combination mechanism for taking hold of the opposite parts ofthe mold, mechanism for va continuous movement in one direction, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination of the parts of a jointed or divided mold provided with suitable handles, two pivotally-mounted blocks provided with radial slots and a catch device for holding the mold-handles in said slots, and mechanism connected to said blocks whereby the mold may be raised and lowered and opened and closed, substantially as set forth.

7.. The combination of the parts of a jointed or divided mold provided with suitable handles, a pair of pivotally-mounted blocks provided with radial slots and a catch device for holding the mold-handles in said slots, a pair of pivotally-mounted hooked dogs, and mechanism suitably connected with said blocks and dogs, whereby the mold may be raised and lowered, opened and closed, and locked when closed, substantially as set forth.

S. The combination, with a bath of molten metal for the casting of metals by the submergence of a mold therein, and alever mechanism for the raising and lowering of the mold, of a weight, al, suitably arranged to counterbalance, wholly or in part, the weight of the mold before submergence, but to aid submergence as the latter takes place, substantially as set forth.

9. rllhe combination ofthe handles of ajointed or divided mold, the lever A, the arm b, pivotcd to the end ot' said lever, and provided with horizontal slots, the cylindrical pieces bf', having radial V-shaped slots b, and provided with lugs b, having cani-shaped ends, said lugs b" being pivted in the horizontal `slots in the arm b, and the hooked bell-crank levers b, substantially as set forth.

l0. In combination with the halves or parts of a divided mold, and with a lowering mechanism for immersing the same in a bath ot molten metal, a togglejoint mechanism suitably arranged to open and reclose the mold without stopping the lowering mechanism, substantially as set forth.

l1. In combination w-ith the halves or parts of a divided mold, and with a lowering mechanism for immersing the same in a bath of molten metal, a toggle-joint mechanism suitably arranged to open and reclose the mold without stopping thelowering mechanism, and a locking mechanism for preventing the reopening of the molds as they are lifted from the bath, substantially as set forth.

12. rlhe combinationv of the lever A, theI arm b, pivotcd to the end of said lever, and

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provided with horizontal slots b2 and the able handles, and having the groove or notch hooked spring-dogs bm, the cylindrical pieces e, substantially as set forth.

b5, having` radial V-shaped slots bf?, and pro- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set vided with lugs b4, having cam-shaped ends, m5? hand. 5said lugs being pivoted to the arm bin the YVitnesses: CHARLES F. BRUSH.

slots b2, the hooked bell-crank levers bg, and a J No. GROWELL,

dividedor jointed mold provided with suit- GHAS. H. DORER. 

